Josh Harding pulls a sled full of weights under the supervision of
Christopher Pietrzak-Wegner, the Wild's strength and conditioning coach Tuesday morning, March 1, 2011 at the Xcel Energy Center. (Pioneer Press: Chris Polydoroff)

Josh Harding and Christopher Pietrzak-Wegner, the Wild's strength and conditioning coach, take a short break during an on ice workout at the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights, March 2, 2011. (Pioneer Press: Chris Polydoroff)

Josh Harding remains haunted by the pain that exploded in his right leg. A collision in the crease during a preseason game in St. Louis on Sept. 24 turned ligaments in the Wild goaltender’s knee into spaghetti and plunged him into despair.

The 26-year-old dreaded waiting for doctors to confirm about his shattered limb what he already knew in his heavy heart. The season in which Harding was poised to reaffirm his potential as a No. 1 goalie in the NHL was finished — not even 14 minutes into Minnesota’s preseason opener.

“It’s the worst feeling in the world,” he recalled.

Harding had torn his anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments and suffered a deep bone bruise after Blues forward Brad Boyes crushed his leg in a freak accident. Reconstructive surgery, followed by months of isolating rehabilitation, shook Harding’s confidence, warped his sense of identity and challenged his resilience.

Having endured two major surgeries on his legs, including a left hip operation, in the past 11 months, Harding has much to prove to the Wild and the rest of the league. His contract expires June 30, when he will become an unrestricted free agent for the first time.

Time, Harding’s constant companion during recovery, now is his worst enemy.

With only five weeks remaining in the regular season, he is in the final throes of rehab, back on the ice and smiling again, confident he will be able to resume his once-promising career.

Harding, however, is unlikely to play for the Wild in 2010-11, and perhaps ever again, unless they make a playoff run and either Niklas Backstrom or Jose Theodore becomes injured. The Feb. 28 trade deadline also was the last day the Wild could assign Harding to a conditioning stint with Houston of the American Hockey League.

In many ways, the Wild’s second-round draft pick in 2002 will spend the next six months rebooting his career.

“One of the things I wanted to work on (this season) was getting tougher in net, and I think this experience is going to help out with that,” he said. “I just want to leave a message that I’m healthy and my knee feels great.

“Hopefully, the Minnesota Wild realize that. But if they don’t, I hope some other team does.”

‘SOME BAD DREAM’

Medication helped numb Harding’s physical pain during those dark days of early winter.

No prescription, though, could treat the insecurity that attacks the psyche when your livelihood suddenly is jeopardized.

Or relieve the loneliness of being on a team in name only, unable to share in victory and powerless to ward off defeat.

Or regulate the humility that comes from one day being capable of stopping pucks traveling more than 100 mph to the next needing help getting into bed.

“Sometimes, what you take for granted in life, like taking out the garbage or doing dishes, you appreciate a lot more,” Harding recalled during a Nov. 30 interview at a Minneapolis sushi restaurant.

That day his knee was still swollen and wrapped in a brace after arthroscopic surgery earlier in the month. Doctors had transplanted a cadaver’s ACL to replace Harding’s shredded ligament. He was off crutches and already doing range-of-motion exercises on the long road back.

But Harding was in a foul mood. Here he was again confronting uncertainty about his future.

Hadn’t he just sacrificed an entire summer to rehabilitating from surgery to repair a torn labrum that prematurely ended his 2009-10 season?

When would he finally be able to find a comfortable position in bed for his legs so he could sleep through the night?

And how could he stop replays of the collision from playing on an endless loop in his mind?

Poking his chopsticks into a California roll, Harding acknowledged he was miserable.

“It still seems like I’m in some bad dream, like this didn’t happen.”

Asked about the source of his melancholy, Harding offered domestic anecdotes from October and November, when he hobbled around helplessly in his condominium.

During that first month, he was totally dependent on his father, Tim, who flew down from their hometown of Regina, Saskatchewan, to play caretaker.

“It was a chore just for him to get a glass of water, and then to carry it was another thing,” Tim Harding said.

Notorious for falling asleep during movies, Harding made it to the credits of about three films a night as he struggled with discomfort from having to lie on his back with his leg fully extended.

Sleeping pills helped him until the night Harding awoke in agony after rolling over on his injured leg. Staring at the ceiling proved a better alternative.

Harding hit rock bottom, though, the moment he learned his fate.

The day after returning from St. Louis, he was in the trainer’s room at the Xcel Energy Center with winger Andrew Brunette. Head therapist Don Fuller answered a telephone call from team orthopedist Dr. Joel Boyd, who relayed the devastating results from Harding’s magnetic resonance imaging exam.

“I felt like crying, truthfully,” the goalie recalled. “I know Bruno was there. I was trying to suck it in. He even knew, gave me one of those pats and said, ‘You’ve got to hang in there.’ It’s one of those feelings you never wish anyone would have.”

Brunette was an ideal grief counselor.

In April 2009, he had reconstructive surgery on his right knee after playing half a season with a torn ligament. The 15-year veteran also has had three operations on his right shoulder. He knows the drill.

“At that moment, it’s pretty scary because you don’t know what the future holds,” Brunette said. “Every time you go in, you know there’s a chance you won’t come out the same. I was looking for him to make sure that he knows it’s very doable.

“To his credit, he’s put the work in day in and day out. I thought I pushed it. He’s way ahead of me.”

THE RECOVERY

Harding’s mood swings are typical for athletes rehabilitating from major surgery, particularly ACL reconstructions, according to sports psychologists. The typical six-month recovery period is fertile ground for a range of emotions.

Frustration begets depression, followed by optimism that fuels impatience.

“Psychological recovery is the same as physical recovery, with parallel plateaus and setbacks,” said Dr. Diane Wiese-Bjornstal, associate professor of kinesiology and sports psychology at the University of Minnesota.

Wiese-Bjornstal and Dr. Aynsley Smith, psychology consultant and research director at the Mayo Sports Medicine Clinic, collaborated on a 1999 study that profiled about 80 high school and college athletes who were rehabilitating from ACL reconstructions.

Their research showed that about 15 percent of those surveyed suffered symptoms of clinical depression.

“Recoveries are not straight, linear improvements. It’s a roller coaster,” WieseBjornstal said. “Frustration is at its peak immediately after the injury. Post-surgery, moods tend to improve slightly.

“What we found is typically at three months and six months into recovery, negativity sets in again. What it means is that the athletes are getting better but they’re frustrated that they still can’t be as physically active as they’d like. They feel like they’re not getting back quickly enough.”

RECOVERY ON TRACK

Harding is five months out of the operating room and fervent to re-establish his credentials. Standing at the gate is his surgeon, Boyd, who compared Harding’s methodical recovery to baking a cake.

“After 45 minutes or an hour, the cake will be nice and golden brown. But stick a knife in and it’s all gooey,” Boyd said. “We want it to be nice and solid. The further out, the more mature the graft becomes and the more likely patients will have a successful recovery.”

Boyd said ACL reconstructions fail most during the first five months of rehabilitation. Once an athlete eclipses six months, the failure rate flat lines at 10 percent to a year out from surgery.

Harding is on track to resume practicing if his knee can perform a goaltender’s requisite moves without it swelling and stiffening to where he cannot repeat the routine the next day.

“I’m holding the reins tighter than he wants me to hold them,” Boyd said. “You have to be like a parent. You can’t leave the cookies out and not expect them to be eaten.”

Passing Boyd’s tests are one thing. Convincing the Wild’s front office to reinvest in him is another.

Harding, completing a contract that pays him $1.2 million this season, is entering his prime earning years. Theodore, a veteran signed to back up Backstrom after Harding went down, has been very impressive in spot duty. He also is seeking a new contract.

General manager Chuck Fletcher has complicated decisions to make regarding his crowded crease, with Harding’s health not necessarily the primary factor.

“Long term, he’s going to be fine. Short term, it’s just really hard to say where he’ll be in three or four weeks and what that will be mean for him this season,” Fletcher said.

“I certainly don’t have any doubt about Josh’s ability to play in the NHL,” he continued. “I’ve always felt he has the talent to be a No. 1 goalie in the NHL. That’s his goal. We have Niklas Backstrom here (signed through 2013). That’s always been the issue long term. We have a lot of time to see. That’s what the summer months are for.”

THE HOME STRETCH

These days, Harding has the bounce back in his step, literally and figuratively. He is in the home stretch of a rehab in which he suffered no setbacks. He has been skating and taking shots for almost a month. And he is about a week out from his final test — proving he can flop into the butterfly position and snap back upright, the exact position he was in when Boyes brought his world crashing down.

Remastering the trendy shot-blocking technique is pivotal in assessing Harding’s comeback. He is eager to put his recovery to the ultimate test.

“That first time I might be a little hesitant going down. I think once I do it and it doesn’t feel bad, it’s game on,” Harding said Tuesday. “Just the way it feels, I know it’s going to be 100 percent. It’s going to be strong. I just need somebody to take a chance on me. I definitely will prove it.”

With that, Harding hopped off the trainer’s table, greeted strength and conditioning coach Chris Pietrzak-Wegner with a smile and settled under the leg press in the weight room adjacent to the Wild dressing room.

Brian Murphy has been on the Pioneer Press sports staff since 2000, migrating from the Detroit Free Press, where he covered police, courts and sports for four years. Murphy was the Minnesota Wild/NHL beat writer from 2002 to 2008 and has covered the Vikings as a reporter and columnist since 2009. Murphy is a Detroit native and Wayne State University graduate.

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